A Blueberry Muffin and Lily
by darth spots and darth stripes
Summary: “Oh mine Lily flower, my heart hast shattered! Thou hast rippeth it into shreds with thy cruel words!” James cried melodramatically, as if mortally wounded. “Whatever Potter, get a life.” Lily replied. LJ. R&R for the sake of my sanity please :D
1. Chapter 1

_**A Blueberry Muffin and a Lily**_

_Ch1 - Beginnings. _

Lily's house (day before term starts)

September the 1st has always been my favourite day of the year. Three fabulous things always happen on this day. 1- its my birthday and this year I'm turning 17. 2- it's the first day back at school and I get to see all my friends again. And 3- I get away from Petunia. We were such great friends when we were little, I don't understand why she wont accept me as a witch. It doesn't change who I am. Now that she just refuses to talk to me and any attempt on my behalf to reconcile gets yelled and large, hard objects thrown at, coming back to school is a relief. Well at least until I encounter James Potter. That, I am dreading. What is the bet that the first thing out of his mouth will be a request for me to go on a date with him. Humph. His arrogance is phenomenal. He is such a big-headed, pretentious, egotistical, womanizing prat. I seriously do not understand what other girls see in him. Or Sirius Black either. Remus is nice, he is almost the complete opposite of those two. I don't know why he hangs around with them…. And Peter, peter just creeps me out. I don't know why they hang out with him. Well maybe this time Potter grew up over the summer. Ah, wishful thinking, I say that every year.

James' house (same day)

"Padfoot mate, this is the year." Said James as he closed his trunk, finally finished packing.

"Prongs, you have said that for the past _6 years_…" replied Sirius with his mouth half full of a slice of cake.

"No, this year will be different. I'll show her that I can be mature. I am going to make her realise that im not just the jerk she thinks I am but a kind, caring and _mature_ person that she can build a relationship with."

"That was deep." Said Sirius sarcastically, polishing off his cake.

James pushed Sirius into a bookcase "Shut-up."

"James honey? Sirius dear? Are you boys ready to be dropped to Kings cross? If we leave now you will be right on time." James' mum's jovial voice floated up the stairs.

"Yeah, we'll be right down mum!" called James.

"Coming Mrs Potter!!" called Sirius.

Kings Cross 10.55am

As Lily was getting out of her parents' car, she remembered he very first time crossing to platform 9 ¾ . There had been so much to look forward to then, so much yet to happen and as she stepped through the barrier for the very last time, she felt a pang of loss. Her seventh year was finally here.

"Hi Lily!" James' eager voice filled her head. Great. Way to spoil my last time coming onto platform 9 ¾ …

"Hello Potter." Lily replied frostily as she walked off to find her friends. James looked dejected. 'What did I do wrong?' He thought. 'All I did was say hi…' Nevertheless, James jumped onto the train dragging Sirius, Remus and Peter with him looking forward to the new year.

Lily found Jess and Shahn quite easily once she was on the train. All she had to do was listen for the loudest carriage by far and they would be in it. And, just as she suspected, they were. What she didn't suspect, was to find the marauders in the same carriage. 'what did I do to deserve this…..' she muttered under her breath as she began to push open door only to find that it had already been opened for her by Potter.

"Thanks…" she said sullenly. Potter just nodded and sat down again on the other side of the room.

"LILYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!" squealed Jess and Shahn together.

"Hey guys! I missed you both so much over the holidays!!!" said Lily, now grinning widely.

"We have so much to talk about…" said Jess, and they chatted unceasingly for the rest of the train trip. The Marauders were astonished by the girls' ability to talk for so long, they just sat there and listened.

Hogwarts

The sorting feast was uneventful and quite sad for the seventh years. It was their last sorting feast and they were all lost in their memories of the past six years. Dumbledore's booming voice filling the hall brought them back to reality.

"I hope you are all looking forward to your new school year, especially our first years. Now that we have all eaten our fill," He glanced over to Sirius and James who were still eating and smiled, "I have some announcements to make. As _almost_ all of you know, the forbidden forest is still forbidden to _all_ students. Also, the Charms classroom on the 4th floor is undergoing some refurbishments, but should be ready for classes by next week. Professor Flitwick will post a notice in the great hall with your new classroom allocations until then. And finally, our new Head Girl is Lily Evans and our Head Boy James Potter." Applause filled the room as Lily and James stood up. Lily had been in shock ever since when, during the train ride, she had arrived at the head's compartment to find James sitting there.

As she sat down, she whispered to Jess, "I still cant believe Dumbledore gave _him_ head boy. Has he gone insane?"

"Well Dumbledore usually knows what he's doing…." Replied Jess hesitantly, "Although I'm sure many students question his decision, me among them!"

As Lily, Jess, Shahn and the Marauders were leaving the great hall, Lily was pulled aside by a pair of stunning blue eyes. These eyes were attached to a killer smile and chiselled features.

"Hi, I'm Matt." He said in a smooth, alluring voice.

"Hi… I'm…" Lily stuttered, staring into his dreamy eyes.

"Lily" He finished for her.

"I was just wondering if you would accompany me on a date tomorrow night?" He said sliding his arm around Lily's waist as they were walking.

"Sure, I'd like that." She said smiling, having recovered her voice. He let her go and as she reached the stairs, she turned around to see him still standing there watching her, she winked and continued up the stairs.

As she reached the Gryffindor common room, she saw Jess up ahead with James and Sirius. They looked like they were planning something.

Lily walked up and said "And why aren't I being included in the plotting?"

They all looked shocked because they hadn't heard her come up behind them. James recovered first and said "Well you can if you want. We are trying to create a plan to get Shahn and Remus together." Sirius smiled evilly.

"Sirius wanted to shut them both in a broom cupboard for a few hours and see what happens… but James and I thought that it was stupid." Said jess in explanation. Sirius deflated.

"Well how about sending them notes from "each other"? We could write the notes saying how they feel and then give it to the other one." Suggested Lily.

"Well great! But I have something to add." Said James, "How about, so that its more real, Sirius and I will talk to Remus about how he feels about Shahn and then like, ask him what he would say to her if he wasn't so shy and then copy it down in the note and you do the same to Shahn?"

"Yeah! That's fab! How about we start tomorrow night?" Said jess.

"Yeah, we can meet in our Head's dorm afterwards so that we can discuss it." Put in James.

"I cant do tomorrow night…" Murmured Lily.

"And why not little miss? I know for a fact that you have no homework or conflicting head girl's duties tomorrow night." Stated jess.

"Well as a matter of a fact, I have a date." Said Lily defensively

Jess looked shocked. "The first day back and you already have a date. This just isn't fair. Well…" Said jess expectantly.

"What?"

"Whos the lucky guy???" Said Jess as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Matt Johnson, that Ravenclaw 7th year with those gorgeous blue eyes…." Said Lily dreamily, thinking back to the episode in the great hall.

"Oh, he's HOT. Nice pick Lils!" Said Jess appreciatively. James was looking decidedly uncomfortable and motioned to Sirius to leave.

"We are gonna head off. Maybe take a walk to the kitchens, I didn't eat much at dinner…" Said Sirius as he and James walked off. James' head was down and he looked dejected.

"Whats up with him?" Muttered Lily naively.

"You know full well why he's acting like that. He does it every time you go on a date with a guy." Said Jess

"No he doesn't…" Lily said uselessly.

"Yes he does and its because he loves you Lily. He's actually a really nice guy as is Sirius. You only see in him what you want to. Didn't you notice that there was no start of year prank at the feast? Or that he hasn't asked you out once? Just because he was a jerk in the past doesn't mean that he is still one." Jess was getting angrier the more she said and so was Lily.

"Stop defending Potter. He wont change, he hasn't. He has had six years to change and he has stayed the same the entire time." Lily said then stormed off towards the Head's dorm. Jess sighed and went through the portrait hole. It was going to be a long year.

The whole walk to the kitchens James was silent. Sirius had neve seen him so down.

"Prongs mate, you've had this happen to you heaps of times but you've never been so upset about it. Whats up mate?" Sirius said quietly.

"I'm starting to think that I may never get her. She is the most popular, beautiful and most wanted girl in the school. There are plenty of guys out there that she doesn't hate that she could be with, so why would she choose me when, after all, she _hates_ me." James sighed, "I have run out of ideas. She didn't notice anything had changed about me. Didn't even notice that we refrained from pulling a start of the year prank."

"What have you done with James you alien creature!? Mate! You have always been the one who never gave up, who never quit and never took no for an answer. Its only the first day! You have a whole year to convince her how fabulous you really are. As you say yourself, no one can stand up to the Potter charm for long."

"Thanks Padfoot, I really appreciate it. You're right, I will get her to realise that I have changed even if it takes five years." James said resolutely, proceeding to tickle the pear and order some pumpkin soup and bread for himself and a blueberry muffin and a lily to take up to the head's dorm to give to Lily. Blueberry muffins had been her favourite food since she was 5 years old when she had her first one.

"I shall see you tomorrow Padfoot. Wish me luck!" James said as he walked out of the kitchens carrying a tray of food.

"mmph, good luck mate!" Sirius said with his mouth full of vegetable pastie.

Lily was sitting on the couch in the Head's common room when James pushed through the portrait hole carrying a blueberry muffin and a lily on a tray. He had stopped on the way to eat his soup and bread. He placed it carefully onto the table and Lily didn't look up. James sighed inwardly and walked off to his room to get his books ready for school and get ready for bed.

After James had left, Lily looked up and was pleasantly surprised to find the muffin, lily and a note. It read:

_Dear Lily, _

_I hope you enjoy your muffin, I know blueberry is your favourite._ _ I hope you have a fab last year at Hogwarts and have a great time being Head Girl._

_Love James. _

Lily was shocked at the random act of kindness and thought back to Jess' words earlier that night. _You only see in him what you want to._ 'No, James doesn't change, he's just jealous that I have a hot date tomorrow night that isn't him… Did I just admit that he was hot?! What did he put in this muffin… I should go to bed now. This is a great muffin…' She thought as she walked into her room.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A Blueberry Muffin and a Lily**_

_Chapter 2 – A date, a kiss and a moment in the dark… _

With the sun streaming in through the window, Lily couldn't stay asleep for much longer. She rolled over to look at the clock…

"7AM!! OH MY GOD IM LATE THE FIRST DAY BACK!!!!" she screamed into her pillow. James burst in through the door and stopped abruptly with his wand out.

"James? What are you doing…?" asked a very confused Lily.

"Oh… all I heard was a muffled screaming and I thought that you were being attacked or something…" he admitted, blushing.

"Oh... it's just that I'm late for breakfast." Lily said before she realized how stupid it sounded.

"Right then." Said James with a rather confused look on his face, "I'll just leave now…" He left the room as Lily got out of bed and went to the Gryffindor tower to make sure that his friends were up. Well to make sure that Sirius was up really. He knew that Remus would have been awake early to get his books ready for term and Peter is a light sleeper. So just Padfoot to jump on then. He grinned as he thought up a novel way to wake up his best friend…

While Lily was having her shower in the Head's bathroom, she thought about the way that James had acted this morning. (Did I just call him James?!) She couldn't remember any other time that he would have come to the rescue like that… maybe he had changed…NO. What was she thinking; James Potter doesn't change for anything or anyone. Let alone for a girl. Or would he… Snap out of it. Hmmm what shall I wear tonight for my date…?

She was lost in the happy thoughts of picking an outfit when Shahn and jess burst in through the door.

"LILY! You are LATE!" Yelled Jess over the noise of the shower.

"Hmmm?" Lily said absently, still thinking of her potential outfits and not really listening.

"LATE FOR CLASS!!!!!!!!!" Screamed Shahn. That got her attention. Lily Evans had never been late for class. Ever. And she wasn't about to start now.

"OH MY GOD!!! Can you guys get my books ready for me?!" Lily said starting to get into a panic.

"It's alright Lils, you'll only be five minuets late… but sure." Jess offered. Shahn and Jess ran around trying to get Lily's things in order and find the right books for Charms and Potions, which they had in the first block this morning. Lily created a new record time for getting ready for class by being finished in less than 5 minuets.

"Okay, here are your books and here's your wand." Jess said as she handed the items to a stressed out Lily.

"And here's some toast with strawberry jam." Shahn had just run down to the kitchens to get some food for Lily seeing as she had long since missed breakfast.

"Thank-you so much guys! Now we better get going or we shall be severely late…." Lily said as they headed out the portrait hole of the Head's Dorm. "By the way, how do you guys know the password for my dorm?" Lily enquired.

"James gave it to us. He told us that you still weren't up and asked if we could go and get you so that you wouldn't be late. He was rather concerned." Jess told her pointedly.

"Oh… right then." Lily said blushing. The day passed quite quickly for Lily, even though she wasn't concentrating on any of her classes, just on the upcoming date that night. She couldn't keep her mind off it. She was very thankful that today was not one of those days that dragged on and on. Soon it was time to get ready.

Lily was talking to Jess as she was getting ready.

"So who do you like at the moment Jess?" Lily asked.

"Well that came from nowhere, but anyway, I'm not telling." Jess replied stubbornly.

"So there is someone. Give me a clue." Lily mused, smiling.

"He is, well, _he_. _He_ is indescribable. Warm yet cold, rough yet gentle, available yet untouchable. _He_ is amazing." She sighed, staring off into space dreamily.

"Wow, _he_ must be something. Well it can't be one of the Gryffindor guys; you wouldn't talk that way about any of them, so maybe Ravenclaw?" Lily asked, hoping for a straight answer.

"I told you that I wasn't telling you who _he_ is. You can figure it out for yourself. Have a good date." Jess said sauntering out of the room.

Lily's carefully thought out outfit consisted of a pair of black skinny leg jeans, a purple singlety top with a bow in the middle of the low neckline and a split almost the entire way up the back. She teamed these with pale yellow suede stilettos and a few strings of beads. She did her make-up with magic, as well as her hair. It had taken all of defence against the dark arts to decide on a suitable hairstyle. She had finally settled on loose beach curls and a long side fringe. Everything was perfect.

Matt met her in the entrance hall at 8pm. As she walked down the staircase, he flashed his gorgeous smile. 'I can't believe this is happening. I have dreamed about this for two years….YES! Go Lily…' she though as she made her way over to him. He lifted her hand and grazed it with those luscious lips of his.

"You look wonderful." He said, staring into her eyes.

"Thank you," She said blushing "so where are we going?"

"You'll see..." Matt grinned. He pulled her towards a classroom off to the side of the great hall. They walked across the classroom and up to a tapestry of the Founders of Hogwarts that was hanging at the back of the room. Matt grasped the right hand side and pulled it back to reveal a thin corridor. It curved off to the left, so Lily couldn't see where they were headed. They walked along hand in hand for about five minuets, the corridor twisting and turning in every direction. Finally, they came to an old wooden door. Matt smiled at Lily before he opened it to reveal a small, dimly yet romantically lit room. Against one wall there was a record player emitting soft, slow music, one of Lily's favourite songs. In the middle of the room, there sat a table set with dinner for two.

"Oh Matt, this is so gorgeous…" Lily trailed off, very happily surprised that he had gone to so much effort for their date. She had imagined that their first date would be something like this.

"Its nothing compared to you tonight." He said, flashing that smile that made her melt yet again.

"Why thank-you." She said in a seductive voice, looking up through her eye lashes and turned a pale shade of pink. He walked over to one of the chairs and pulled it out, gesturing for Lily to take a seat on it. 'He's so much more of a gentleman than Potter…' She thought.

Meanwhile, walking along he third floor corridor, were Jess and Sirius who were planning to find Shahn and Remus to put their plan into action. They searched for almost an hour before they discovered Shahn walking up to Gryffindor tower.

"Shahn!" Jess called out, making her turn around.

"Oh hey Jess, Sirius, what are you two doing here?" She asked somewhat nervously.

"Looking for you and Remus actually." Sirius said matter-of-a-factly.

"Really. Well, uh, Remus is, um, in the, uh, library. Yeah, in the library." She replied haltingly.

"Shahn? I think we need to talk. Meet you at the head's dorm in ten?" Jess said suspiciously.

"Um, alright. OK. Meet you there." She said before hurrying off. Jess and Sirius started off towards the library both thinking about the strange exchange that had just occurred.

"Hey Jess, this is a short cut." Sirius broke the silence and pulled a tapestry aside to reveal a dark corridor.

"Alright." Jess looked at him questioningly; his face giving away nothing and lead the way. They had been walking for about two minuets when she suddenly felt hands around her waist and was pulled around against the wall. She was shocked at first, but then _He_ was breathing heavily an inch away from her face. _His_ body pressed warm against her. _His_ lips brushing against hers. _His_ breath hot on her cheek.

"I've been waiting for this" She whispered and closed the distance between them.

Dinner passed quickly in a haze of conversation and laughter. Dessert arrived without her realizing, she was blissfully lost in matt's bewitchingly flirtatious eyes. He broke the piercing look with a chuckle and gestured to her plate. There was a single red rose waiting for her, along with a thin slice of chocolate cheesecake. 'This is a rather familiar situation.' She thought uneasily. She glanced up to find Matt watching her curiously.

"What's up? You look confused." He asked.

"Oh. It's nothing. Don't worry about it" She said, with a reassuring smile.

"Ok…" He acquiesced disbelievingly. They ate in silence, both deep in thought.

The night wore on and they once again found themselves in a lapse in conversation, staring into one another's eyes.

"We should probably go up now, its 11.30pm." Lily sighed, wishing that it could have gone on longer.

"Yeah, I suppose so." Matt agreed, standing up and taking Lily's hand as they both made their way to the door. They parted in the entrance hall, Matt not even making a move to kiss her. 'Potter would have tried to make a move straight away, the sleaze. Why am I thinking about him? Matt is so heavenly…' She thought as she made her way through the corridors towards the Gryffindor Common Room.

The three girls all arrived at the Head's dorm at the same time. Jess gave Lily a short explanation and she let them all in. Once they were all comfortably situated on Lily's bed, the questioning began.

"So Shahn. I know that something happened between you and Remus." Jess stated.

"How could you tell?" Shahn sighed resignedly.

"Well even I can tell by your body language that something is up. We're your best friends Shahn; you know that you can trust us!" Lily said.

"Well… alright." Shahn said, beginning to smile, "But it's still confused in my mind, so if you can't understand I word I say, then blame Remus."

"Fire away." Prompted Jess.

_-----Flashback-----_

_Shahn and Remus are walking along an empty corridor, up ahead is a statue of Gryffindor. Remus stops walking, but Shahn doesn't notice. She continues for a few steps before turning back._

"_Are you alright?" Shahn queried._

"_Yeah, I'm fine. Ummm… Shahn?" Remus said nervously. _

"_Yeah?" Shahn said, uncertainly. All of a sudden Remus closed the distance between them. They stood close together, looking into one another's eyes. _

"_Remus" Shahn breathed into his neck. _

"_Shahn." Remus replied before capturing her lips in a passionate kiss. Shahn opened her mouth slightly to allow Remus' tongue to enter her accommodating mouth. They stayed like that for a few minuets before breaking apart, still standing close. The reality of what had just happened hit her and Shahn ran off down the corridor. _

"_Shahn!" Remus called after her, but only half-heatedly. She had been running the whole way back to the Gryffindor common room when Jess and Sirius found her. _

"Oooooooooohhhhhhhhhh!! That's so romantic!!" Lily said as Shahn finished her account of the night's events.

"I agree!! So why are you so confused? It seems pretty clear to me that he likes you, a lot. And I know that you have liked him for like, three years now, so where is the problem?" Jess asked.

"Lily?" A deep, male voice floated into the room.

"Yeah?" Lily replied.

"Oh, just checking that you were back safely." James said, poking his head around the door with a small smile.

"Thanks James. Well, I'm here…" She said.

"Yeah. OK. Night." He replied nervously before leaving.

"What was that all about? You called him James!" Jess said with a grin.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. And I so didn't." Lily replied, her mind on how nice it was of James to do that. Jess and Shahn left soon after and once Lily had let them out, she turned to go back to her room to notice a tray on the table again. A single Lily, a blueberry muffin and a note. Lily smiled to herself and opened the note.

_Dear Lily…_

(To be continued in the next chapter.)


	3. Chapter 3

Jess and Shahn left soon after and once Lily had let them out, she turned to go back to her room to notice a tray on the table again. A single Lily, a blueberry muffin and a note. Lily smiled to herself and opened the note.

i Dear Lily…

I would assume that you haven't eaten since your date, and that was three hours ago. I was getting hungry myself and picked this up from the kitchens for you. Thought you might want a midnight snack . I know you have a boyfriend, but I got a letter from my parents today asking me who I was taking to their Christmas ball. I was wondering if you would accompany me? Just write your reply on the bottom of this piece of paper. It's on Christmas Eve. Enjoy your muffin.

Love James. /i 

Lily was once again shocked at the second random act of kindness. Whereas last time she was suspicious, this time she was pleasantly surprised. The note however, she would have to talk to Shahn and Jess about. Although, on second thoughts, maybe only Shahn. Jess had the tendency to spread things like who likes who and who might have a thing for who, even if it's not true. Shahn on the other hand wouldn't even think of telling anyone.

"Yes I think that's what I'll do. I'll talk to Shahn about it while Jess isn't around." She mused under her breath. Soon she forgot all thoughts of James. She showered and got ready for bed in a daze, her mind on her date earlier with Matt. As she was getting into bed, she saw the lily on her pillow and wondered how it had got there. She looked over to the tray on which the muffin had been delivered on and found the vase still holding the lily it had come with. Too tired to tackle something confusing, she added the second lily to the first and set them by her bed on the cabinet. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was asleep.

The next morning she woke up to the scent of lilies filling her nose and the sight of the sunlight filtering in through the gaps in her curtains and glinting off a dozen filling the vase that had, the previous night only held two.

"Mmmm." She smiled as she stretched out on her luxurious head's dormitory bed. 'Oh damn. School. I could just lay here forever.' She thought as she woke up. While she got dressed, her thoughts roamed between Matt and James. 'Oh god. I'm comparing Matt to James. I need help. I need Shahn.' She thought as she scrawled a note to Shahn asking her to come up here right away. She sent it off with her owl Chibella and hoped that Shahn wouldn't be too long. It was only about five minutes before she heard her best friend's footsteps in the common room and a knock at her door.

"SHAHN, I AM GOING INSANE." Lily half yelled as she opened the door.

"Whoa, calm down hun. There is still an hour and a half until class starts, tell me all." She soothed, leading Lily to the chairs in her room.

"Okay. So, the past two nights I have gotten back late and have been greeted by a tray containing a blueberry muffin and a lily." She began. Over the next twenty minutes Lily told Shahn about how this was affecting her passionate hatred of James, about his behaviour, her comparisons this morning and her conversation with Jess.

"Now do you understand why I am going insane?" Lily asked once she had finished.

"Yes, but I think it's unfounded. James could just be doing this as a friend. Even though we all know that he has a massive crush on you, he might just want you to stop hating him. It's not hard to understand that he would like it if you didn't yell at him every time he spoke to you." She replied.

"Yeah..." Lily trailed off.

"Unless you want him to like you?" Shahn asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"No! Whatever gave you that idea?" Lily said suspiciously.

"Weeeeellllllllllll, you i did /i call me up here at six thirty in the morning to discuss James and how he's making you go insane." Shahn laughed.

"Oh shut-up. I have a boyfriend." Lily said sourly.

"Okay. So now that's sorted, lets go and see if there is any breakfast left." Shahn said, getting up and pulling Lily up with her.

Lily absorbed herself in her classes and study throughout the day so as to keep her mind off the distracting thoughts of Matt or somehow James that kept floating through her head. It was seeming to work until she was walking down the corridor on the way to Charms when Matt came up beside her and slipped an arm around her waist.

"Hello Lily." He whispered into her ear. She smiled as his breath tickled her ear.

"Hey Matt." She said smiling as she turned to face him. They walked together hand in hand almost the whole way to Charms. When they parted ways at the staircase, Mat gave her a light kiss on the cheek and headed off to Potions. As Lily was turning around to head off to her Charms classroom, out of the corner of her eye she saw James watching her with a slight frown marring his face. 'He's so cute when he frowns.' Lily thought to herself, 'did I seriously just call i James /i cute?!' Thoughts like this kept intruding into her mind as she struggled to concentrate in Charms.

Sirius POV. 

Once he had finished breakfast, Sirius was strolling leisurely up to his dorm to collect his things for class. Just as he turned the corner about to come out from the secret passageway that he was currently using, he heard the familiar voices of Dumbledore and, unfortunately, his mother. Veronica Black was i talking /i to Dumbledore. Practically unheard of. And it was a i civil /i conversation as well. He decided to stay where he was so that he could listen to their conversation.

"Some…. unanticipated events have occurred. I have a need to take Regulus, Bellatrix and Narcissa oh yes, and Sirius too, out of school for a few days to cope with these i events /i ." Veronica said contemptuously.

"Alright, but may I know of what these i events i/ pertain?" Dumbledore replied.

"No. I will return to collect them at six pm sharp. Good afternoon." She said rather rudely and stalked off.

"You can come out now Mr Black." Dumbledore said with the familiar twinkle back in his eyes.

"How can you always tell?" Sirius grumbled, appearing from his hiding place.

"Now, am I correct in assuming that you heard my conversation with your mother?" Dumbledore questioned.

"Yes sir." Sirius said, lowering his head to look at the floor.

"Good, now I won't have to repeat myself. Would you mind going and informing your siblings of the arrangement for this evening?" Dumbledore asked.

"You're not mad at me?" Sirius was shocked.

"Come now Mr Black, how could I be mad at you for relieving me of my duty to inform you siblings? Off you go!" Dumbledore said kindly. Sirius left deep in thought. 'What were these i events /i that mother was talking about? I suppose that I will find out soon enough.' He set off in search of his brother and cousins.

The time until six pm elapsed very quickly. Soon, it was time to go. Veronica Black met Sirius, Regulus, Bellatrix and Narcissa outside the Great Hall and silently led them out of the school grounds so that they could apparate back to the Black manor. Once back, Veronica led them all into the sitting room.

"You are all here to witness the acceptance of Bellatrix into the ranks of the Death Eaters. It is a very prestigious honour to be accepted so young." Veronica said to them. Regulus and Narcissa gave a small amount of polite applause. Sirius on the other hand, exploded.

"WHAT!? Bellatrix is becoming a DEATH EATER?! And you are i PROUD /i of her?! That is disgusting!" Sirius yelled at his mother.

"Sirius, you are a Black, be supportive." Veronica replied with disdain.

"You know what? I don't want to be a part of this." He said, jumping up and leaving the room. He went straight up to his room, collected all his things and with a wave of his wand, shrunk it all into a small backpack and made it feather light. He went back downstairs and under the contemptuous eyes of his family, stalked out. Once outside, he didn't know where to go. He thought about going straight back to Hogwarts but instead decided to go and walk around for a bit to calm down. He walked for a long time, almost the entire ten km to the city. Out of the corner of his eye Sirius spied a little pub that looked relatively empty. He went inside, and seeing as he was of age, ordered a drink. While he was sitting there, he just happened to overhear the conversation of the people at the table next to his.

"The poor girl. She didn't even tell anyone that he was getting violent." A young man of about 20 said to what looked to be his wife.

"Yes I know. She was only sixteen too! Its lucky that his parents were sending him off to that boarding school wasn't it!" the woman replied.

"It sure is. That Johnson boy was making a beeline to jail! He's now old enough to be tried as an adult. He would have deserved whatever he got." The man said heatedly.

"I think Matt might have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol. He was normally such a nice boy. Definitely not the type to do such a thing." A second man, slightly older than the first, put in. Sirius had been trying to piece the story together in his head and suddenly it clicked. Matt Johnson. Seventh year Ravenclaw. i Going out with Lily. /i Sirius decided that he should probably check their story before jumping to conclusions. There is probably more than one Matt Johnson who is seventeen and goes to a boarding school.

"Excuse me," Sirius asked the people who had been talking about Matt. "I was wondering what else you know about Matt Johnson."

"What is it to you?" The woman asked suspiciously.

"Well I think that I might know him." Sirius replied.

"Ah, um, well he has quite noticeable blue eyes and sandy brownish kind of hair. How would you know him?" The older man supplied.

"I go to the same boarding school. And I have the feeling that the girl that my best friend is in love with is going out with him." Sirius said, felling quite queasy at the thought of Matt hurting Lily in any way. James would be expelled for killing Matt if that ever happened.

"That's a bit of a tricky situation. I think that you should know what happened." The woman said grimly before explaining the events that had transpired.

"Oh god. Thank you for telling me. I have to go." Sirius said to the three people as he paid for his drink and rushed out of the pub. Once in a side alley, Sirius apparated back to the gates outside of Hogwarts and ran all the way to Gryffindor tower. He burst into the heads dorms just as James was coming out of the bathroom.

"JAMES! You have to hear this." Sirius almost yelled at James.

"What is it Padfoot? Why the stress?" James replied, very confused.

"Where's Lily? She needs to hear this!" Sirius asked, looking around frantically.

"Uh, she's on another date with Matt Padfoot." James said dejectedly.

"NO. Go and get her NOW! He isn't safe!" Sirius yelped at James, so stressed that he looked like he was going to pop.

"Okay okay. I'll just be a minute." James said, still confused.

"No, a minute is too long! Go now! Now!" Sirius pleaded.

"Alright already." James said as he got dressed by magic and rushed out of the heads dorm in search of Lily. Sirius sat and stressed in the heads dorm until James came back. Lilyless.

"She wouldn't leave her date. So why was it so important that she leave anyway?" James told Sirius who was on the verge of popping.

"How can you be so calm?" Sirius squeaked out.

"Uh, coz I don't know what is so important." James said.

"James. I have two things. The first has paled into insignificance beside the second. Alright," He took a deep breath. "One. Bellatrix is a death eater."

"WHAT?! She's a DEATH EATER?! And this is unimportant how?" James yelled.

"You haven't heard the second thing. Matt's last girlfriend was found dead in a gutter beside a night club. He beat her to death." Sirius answered grimly.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

_ i "James. I have two things. The first has paled into insignificance beside the second. Alright," He took a deep breath. "One. Bellatrix is a death eater." _

"_WHAT?! She's a DEATH EATER?! And this is unimportant how?" James yelled._

"_You haven't heard the second thing. Matt's last girlfriend was found dead in a gutter beside a night club. He beat her to death." Sirius answered grimly. /i _

"Oh my god." James said, sinking down to the couch.

"Yes, oh my god is correct. Now do you understand why I needed you to take her away from Matt?" Sirius asked.

"Lily's in danger. LILY'S in DANGER! We have to get her away from him pronto!" James started to panic.

"Well I think that she will be ok for the moment, and I really don't think that it would be advantageous to your cause if you just burst in on their date in your current mood, sending hexes flying everywhere. But, you do have to tell her as soon as she gets back from her date." Sirius said seriously, calming James down a bit. ( a/n: no pun intended :o) )

"Yes, I'll tell her, but what if she's in danger right now?! What if he's beating her up?! What if she's dead?!" James began to get frantic again and Sirius had to force him back into his seat.

"There is always going to be what ifs James, but Lily is a grown girl and knows how to look after herself. Remember that time in fifth year when she was so annoyed at you for retelling the quiddich match between Gryffindor and Slytherin that she broke your nose and hit you in the solar plexus?" Sirius said, smiling at the memory.

"That really hurt you know, so stop smiling. I guess your right though, Lily can take care of herself." James said sighing.

"Atta boy Prongsie," Sirius said, before turning serious again (a/n: again, no pun intended..) "Just don't forget to let her know what I found out."

"Will do Padfoot. I'm going to study for a bit, so see you later yeah?" James replied, getting up to go to his room.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow mate." Sirius said, leaving the dorms.

u Lily POV. /u 

"Thanks for the lovely night Matt." Lily said. They were standing outside the head's dorm, just having comeback from their second date. Which was lovely, apart from the fact that James had come bursting in halfway through telling her that she had to come up to the dorm because Padfoot had to tell her something important.

"Its my pleasure Lily." Matt replied smiling.

"Well, I will see you later yeah?" Asked Lily as she turned to start up the staircase that lead to Gryffindor tower.

"You sure will," Matt said following her "Lily, before you go…" He trailed off, waiting for her to turn around.

"Ye…"Lily's words were cut off as she turned around to find her lips being caught in a tender kiss.

"Night Lily." He said after he had let her go.

"N-Night Matt." Lily stuttered. She walked back up to her dorms in a trance thinking about how romantic Matt's kiss was. Not harsh or passionate, just…romantic. 'Potter wouldn't have kissed me like that.' She thought as she came to the portrait that lead to her room. 'Why on earth am I still thinking about Potter of all people?'

As she walked into the Head's common room, she was almost bowled over by James as he rushed to her, capturing her in a bone-crushing hug. Lily was too shocked to move at first, then without thinking, she relaxed into his strong, safe embrace and began to lift her arms to hug him back. Then she realised who it was.

"Potter, what are you doing?" She asked, still in shock.

"Oh, sorry Lily, I uh, um well I just wanted to make sure that you were ok, is all." He replied uncertainly.

"Is something the matter?" She questioned curious to his strange behaviour. He would never normally give her a hug, he was all too aware of her fiery temper whenever he so much as touched her.

"Um, well yes. There is something that I need to tell you. Please come and sit down on the couch, I'm no sure how you'll take this." James said hesitantly.

"Okay then." Lily said, somewhat suspicious of the situation at hand. Once they were both seated, James related all that Sirius had told him about Matt and his 'activities' outside of Hogwarts. At first Lily just sat there is shock. Then she panicked. Then she decided that it was a joke.

"Haha very funny James, you can come out now Sirius." She called out to James' room.

"Uh, Lily, its not a joke. You should have seen Sirius when he came and told me, he was stressed out of his mind! That's why I came to interrupt your date, because Sirius and I were worried that something was going to happen to you! Well actually I didn't know when I came and interrupted, otherwise I would have been more insistent that you leave." James said, a concerned look marring his features.

"Yeah, whatever James. You don't know Matt at all, otherwise you would know that he is so not the type of person to do that. I'll have you know that he is a gentleman and is very caring to i everyone /i . Now I am going to bed, I will see you in class." Lily said as she got up and stalked off to her room.

"Why doesn't she believe me?" James sighed as her door shut.

Lily avoided James for the next few days, she didn't want him to try and tell her that she is in danger from Matt yet again. She changed the schedule so that she wasn't patrolling with him anymore; she went to breakfast and lunch earlier so that he wouldn't be there. She went on dates with Matt more often, and asked him to pick her up from the Head's Dorm so that James would see that he isn't that guy who beats up on a girl. Everyone except her noticed that she was going out of her way for James. She would deny it, but that was what she was doing.

One night when Lily was patrolling by herself, she came across a broom cupboard that was emitting some strange sounds and that was moving. She opened the doors forcefully, full expecting to find a couple of fifth years making out, only to see Peeves struggling to shove another water bomb into a bag that was already full of them.

"PEEVES! What on earth are you doing? Go and see Pro-" Lily was cut off as Peeves threw the rouge water bomb into her face and zoomed off down the hallway cackling. She was wet, cold and angry. She dried her clothes and hair with a quick spell and ran off to find Peeves and send him to McGonagall's office for punishment. It wasn't long before she came across a second broom closet rattling and emitting suspicious sounds. She ripped open the doors only to find Jess making out with a seventh year Ravenclaw!

"J-Jess?! What are you doing? I thought you were Peeves!" Lily asked, still not having noticed the boy Jess was with.

"Lily, cant you see that we are busy here and that we aren't Peeves?" Jess asked, clearly annoyed.

"Oh, sorry for interrupting. See you later then." Lily replied before closing the doors and starting to walk off. She only got one step before she swung around, realising what she had just said.

"Jess and…Jess' friend, I'm sorry, but I wasn't thinking before. I am Head girl, and it is my duty to enforce curfew. I wont give you two a detention because you are my one of my best friends, but I will take 10 points from both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw and make sure it doesn't happen again." Lily said after opening the doors again, her Head Girl side kicking back in after it's momentary lapse.

"Oh, damn. I thought that my annoyance would have shocked you enough that you wouldn't realise that you hadn't told us off." Jess said smirking. "Ah well, come on Dave, lets be off. See ya Lils." They each went their separate ways, Jess to Gryffindor tower, Dave to the Ravenclaw tower and Lily patrolling, her search for Peeves forgotten. As she was walking, Lily remembered the conversation that she had had with Jess at the beginning of the year about who she fancied. Jess had said that there were two he's one a i he /i and the other only a he. She assumed that this was one of the two. Although, knowing Jess it could just be a hot guy that had asked her if she wanted to share a broom cupboard for the evening. She wasn't slutty or anything, she just enjoyed the odd 'no strings attached' rendezvous with a hot guy. But she was still trying to figure out which one he was. She hadn't ever heard Jess talk about a Dave before, although if she remembered correctly, Lily had seen her sneaking glances at the Ravenclaw table occasionally during meals in the last few days. Oh well, not to worry, she would get it out of Jess eventually.

"Lily! I have been looking all over for you? What happened to our date?" Matt asked as he came jogging down the corridor in front of Lily.

"I have responsibilities, unlike some." Lily replied scathingly. She hadn't meant it to come out like that, but she supposed it was because she had just remembered that Peeves had thrown a water bomb at her head.

"Hey, you can't just blow of our dates." Matt replied angrily, slapping her shoulder with the back of his hand.

"I'm sorry Matt, it's just that Peeves threw a water bomb at me before and I had to dock house points from my best friend." She said wearily.

"Okay, but could you tell me next time?" He said, claming down.

u A few days later, in Hogsmeade with Matt /u 

"So Lils, where do you want to go next?" Asked Matt. So far they had been everywhere that Lily had wanted to go to. She had needed new parchment and ink, some owl treats for Chibella and she was doing her Christmas shopping for all of her family and friends as well.

"You pick, I have chosen where to go every time." She replied smiling up at him.

"Alrighty then…how about the Three Broomsticks? I need a drink after all this hard shopping." He said, mock seriously. Once they got there, Lily went and ordered drinks because Matt had spotted some of his friends over in the corner booth. After she had drinks for everyone, she levitated them all over to the table.

"Lily, have you met my mates Steve, Mark and Toby?" Matt asked her once she had sat down and everyone had their drinks.

"Yeah once or twice. But nice to see you all again." She replied. Lily kind of zoned out of the conversation and as she was trying to decide on what to get for Jess and Shahn, Matt interrupted her thoughts her kissing her cheek.

"You alright babe? Steve asked you how we are going and you didn't answer?" Matt queried.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine, thanks." She said to Matt before continuing to Steve, "Um, yeah we are going really well, Matt is such a gentleman and is so considerate to me."

"Hahaha, well then you haven't seen Matt's wild side yet." Mark said laughing.

"I think that it will be making a few appearances in the future." Lily said winking at Matt.

"Haha, well I think that we should be going, Lily here still has to buy Christmas presents for some of her friends." Matt said, helping Lily out of her seat and paying for their drinks. "See you all later guys."

Once they got outside, Lily saw Jess and Shahn just about to go into the new robes shop that had just opened in Hogsmeade.

"Hey Matt, I'm just going to go and spend a little time with Jess and Shahn in the new robes shop and see if I can suss out what they want for Christmas. Okay?" Lily said to Matt as she began to walk off.

"What? Hold on, we are on a date, you can see your friends anytime that you want. This is our time." He replied, a note of anger barely concealed in his voice, while grabbing her arm and swinging her around.

"I can see my friends any time that I want thankyou very much." Lily shot back, rather shocked at his sudden mood change.

"No, not while we are on a date." He said, tightening his grip on her arm and tugging her away.

"What do you think that your doing? I'm not your property!" Lily said, clearly affronted and tried to wrench her arm out of his grip.

"Don't you give me that tone." Matt said before releasing her, but as she went to turn and walk off, she found that Matt's hand was frozen just inches from her face. Lily just stood there shocked, tears threatening to spill over and down her face.

James POV.

James, Sirius and Remus had been strolling trough Hogsmeade most of the day, brainstorming ideas for their Christmas prank before the holidays. No one knew where Peter was; he had just disappeared after breakfast and hadn't been seen since. They were just coming out of Zonko's joke store, arms loaded with materials for their upcoming pranks, when Remus spotted Lily and Matt standing outside the Three Broomsticks. He was rooted to the spot as he saw Matt grab her arm and exchange angry words.

"Hey moony we should do something to the teachers table this time." Sirius said before realizing that Remus wasn't there.

"Moony? Oh he's still back there. What are you doi…" James tailed off as he saw what Moony was watching.

"The bastard!" James said before dumping all his stuff on Padfoot and rushing to Lily's aid. As he was running, he saw Matt swing back his hand to hit Lily. Just as he brought it down, James yelled imepeditia in a wordless spell so that Matt would have no time to block it even if he did have his wand out. Matt's hand froze, just centimetres away from Lily's face. Once James had reached her, tears were pouring down her face.

"Come on Lily, come and sit down." James said softly, putting his arm around her shoulders and leading her over o a bench. "Here, I bought you a blueberry muffin at the bakery before and I was going to give it to you later, but I think you need it now." He was rambling, but he didn't know what else to do. Lily took the muffin, but didn't eat it, she just sat, staring at the ground.

"Thankyou James." She whispered.

"Anytime." He whispered back.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Shahn POV

Shahn and Jess had been shopping in Hogsmeade most of the day. The last thing that they needed to buy were new robes for James' family's annual Christmas Ball. James had invited the rest of the Marauders and they were to each bring a partner. Sirius had of course asked Jess . rRather loudly and in the middle of breakfast just after James had told them about their invitations. Remus had been much more circumspect about asking Shahn; o. On the way back from Charms, she had run into him coming back from Hhistory of Mmagic.

------Flashback------

_ i "Hey Shahn,." Remus said, looking slightly nervous. _

"_Hey Remus, what's up?" sShe replied. _

"_Uhhh, its just that, um… actually don't worry. See you at lunch,." hHe said and started to walk away frowning. This registered as kind of weird to Shahn, seeing as Remus was always so straight forward about everything. But even as she thought that, Remus turned around and came back. _

"_James' parents are holding their annual Christmas ball during the holidays. Will you go with me?" hHe asked tentatively. His nerves were totally unfounded however as Shahn immediately said yes and excused herself as she was going to be late fore classon her way to meet her friends to go to lunch. She left Remus looking very happy with himself as she rushed off to Gryffindor tower to find her friends to tell themtell her friends the news.__ /i _

------End of Flashback------

Shahn and JessThey were both so engrossed in choosing their dresses and gossiping about the various people who had gotten together or broken up around the school that neither of them witnessed the episode between Lily, Matt and later James. By the time they had finished the lengthy process of picking their perfect dresses, James had taken Lily back to the castle and Matt had been freed from the spell to stalk off in search of Lily. S But seeing as neither Jess nor Shahn knew of these events, when they arrived back to Gryffindor tower, they were both surprised to see Sirius, Remus and Peter sitting on the couches looking slightly worried.

"Hey guys, I thought that you were in Hogsmeade?" Jess asked the boys.

"Oh, hey Jess, Shahn,." Sirius said nodding at the girls.

"Yeah, we were there, but um, we came back early with James and Lily,." Remus answered

"Uhhhhh are we missing something here?" Jess queried.questioned Sirius.

"Well as we were coming out of Zonko's, James saw Matt, well, taking a swing at Lily." At this Jess and Shahn gasped. Lily hadn't said anything about Matt being _ i that_ /i kind of guy. It was so…unexpected.

"James stepped in with a very timely wordless imepeditia spell which froze Matt's hand inches before it hit Lily's face. We brought her back to the castle after she had calmed down a bit, but then, as soon as Lily realized who had helped her, she exploded. She launched into a speech about how she can take care of herself and she can handle it, she doesn't need James to be her knight in shining armor every time. Then she realized that she had called James her night in shining armor and bolted out of the common room,." Remus continued from where Sirius had left off.

"Well. That's a lot of news. Jess why don't we hang around the marauders more often? They always have a more exciting time than we do,." Shahn said smiling.

"That's great! But really bad at the same time… Lily has finally sort of a bit confessed that she likes James! But then Matt is abusing her., w Which is way out of line,."

Jess said.

"Yeah I know what you mean. Do you think that we should tell Dumbledore? Or let Lily do it in her own time? I would defiantly say let Lily do it, except for the possibility that Matt will hit her again before she goes to tell anyone,." Sirius put in.

"I suppose we should wait and see what happens with Lily and James first,t." Peter said.

"Good idea, Pete. One of your few,." Sirius said with a grin as everyone laughed.

After Lily had made her dramatic exit from the Gryffindor common room, she practically ran to her dorm. The entire way all that she could think about was James. Not Matt, nor his attempted abuse, James. Her little explosion before had made her realize that she had changed her view on James, and she didn't like it one bit. Lily hates James. It was common knowledge in the school. How could a few weeks change six years of hatred? They couldn't. And that was the end of it. Once Lily had come to this conclusion, she realized that she had arrived at the entrance to the Heads Dorm and the door was being held open for her by the one and only, James Potter.

"What do you think your doing Potter?" sShe spat as she walked into their common room, trying to make her voice hard and cold, but not quite managing it. She wasn't going to accept these new views, she couldn't.

"Trying to talk to you,." hHe said in a strange voice. At first it was desperation and sadness, then hurt, anger and small amount of annoyance. But underneath all of that there was a simmering lust and even love that try as he might, he couldn't hide. It was a strange mix of complex and opposite emotions, but once put together, created a tone that even Lily in her current mood couldn't turn away from.

"Why do you want to talk to me? After all I have just said you still want to talk to me?" Lily asked still shocked by the way he had said it.

"Of course I want to talk to you. I want to apologize to you for trying to help. I don't know why you find that so…degrading, you shouldn't. But on another topic, I would like to make it known to you, seeing as you so obviously haven't taken notice, that I _ i have_ /i changed. I changed for you. I once heard it said that itsit's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you. I have been chasing you for six years Lily, and in those six years I have failed miserably in showing you who I am underneath all of the traits that you find so…repulsive if you will. So this year, after I thought about that quote, that I have changed to see if you would take any notice." At this he sighed, then continued, "You haven't and I have finally put this down to your lack of trust in me." James finished, fixing Lily with his piercing stare that made the girls go weak at the knees. Lily was unable to speak. Throughout his little speech, James had been slowly moving forward so that now they were only inches apart. Now that she was looking up into his warm, hazel eyes she saw what her countless rejections had done to him.

"I think that we should play a game of truth,." James announced, stepping away and breaking their stare.

"What? After that whole speech, you want to play a game with me,." Lily replied. This was getting more surprising every second.

"Yeah. I don't think that we trust each other enough. So we are going to play a game of truth to ease the tension that is always between us,." hHe said matter-of-a-factly.

"Okay then, well if we are going to do this, then I don't think that a little Butterbeer would go astray,." sShe said. James nodded and turned to his room, but Lily spoke before he got half way.

"Why the sudden change in atmosphere? You were so deep and meaningful one minute and the next we are about to play a game. And why have you always forgiven me for yelling at you and calling you names?" Lily asked.

"I don't think that you want to know yet Lily, we aren't ready for that yet,." James replied as he fetched the butterbeer from his room. They cracked open their drink and sat down on the carpet in front of the fire.

"Alrighty then. I'll go first. Ummmm, ok I have one, what do you think is the stupidest word in the English language?" James asked Lily.

"Sort of. Its can change the meaning of some things ridiculously, but can also be so useful! Like if you said….your going to live, sort of. Or with a baby, It's a boy, sort of. But itsit's also really useful. I cantcan't think of anything right now, but you see what I mean?" Lily said as James was laughing. "Alright your turn. What's your most hated word in the English language?"

"Oh that's easy. Almost. It's not quite there and it's annoying. Like you're almost the best. Just not quite there…" hHe replied, drifting off. "What are your happiest and saddest memories?"

"That's two questions, but I'll allow it because they both have the same answer. Getting my Hogwarts letter when I turned 11. It was my happiest moment because I found out I was a witch, but then the saddest because that was when Petunia first started to hate me and call me freak,." Lily said, saddened.

"What is your funniest memory?" sShe continued, brightening up.

"Hahahhahaa, that would be the time that Sirius was stalked. Okay, so it started when we had just come back in from a short wrestling match on our brooms, and I had left the door open. We had almost made it to the kitchen when Sirius started yelling and screaming and dived under the kitchen table. My first thought was that we were being attacked, so I dived under with him. After a while of watching Sirius look warily around the room, I asked him what had happened and why he had dived under the table so suddenly. He didn't answer me, but bolted out from under the table and was off to his room. I thought that he was just being stupid again, so I started to make us some lunch. About five minutes later I heard "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! BANG!!!!!! CRASH!!!! AHHA TAKE THAT! THUMP!" and then silence. Again, the first thing that I though of was Sirius was being attacked, but then again I didn't hear any spells being fired. So I went to investigate. With my wand at the ready, I threw open the door to Sirius's room and……..he wasn't anywhere to be seen!" James paused here for dramatic effect and then continued. " I called out to him and in reply, a loud shushing noise issued forth from the wardrobe. This was all very suspicious, and, as I neared the wardrobe door, Sirius' called out, NO! DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR! Then as I watched two legs materialized in front of my eyes. He was sitting on top of the wardrobe the whole time. I when I asked him what he was doing up there, he replied "I have trapped the malevolent being in the cupboard. ItsIt's all good now. " Naturally, I wanted to know what the hence christened 'malevolent being' was. So I opened the door. And inside was…….nothing. I stood there for a while, until I heard Sirius start yelling again. He was waving his hands around madly and almost fell off the cupboard in his attempts to ward off this 'malevolent being'. I seriously thought that he had gone mad. He jumped off the cupboard and was running around in circles yelling '"ITS STALKING ME!!! ITS GONNA KILL MEEEE!!!!!'" It was a while before he calmed down enough to tell me what 'IT' was. '"It's a dragonfly.'" He hissed into my ear."'"

By the time James had finished narrating his story, Lily was almost crying with mirth.

"'"That' was hahahahaha hilarious!!" sShe managed to say after she had calmed down.

"It was. , I paid him out about it for weeks, he'lland he'll never live it down. Okay, your turn. Ummmm. Yeah! Have you ever been drunk?" James asked.

"I'm 17! Of course I've been drunk. Have you ever tried drugs and why?." Lily said.

"Umm, yeah. I tried some speed after my dad died, to help cope with the pain,." hHe replied, looking down.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that he died.." Lily said, feeling guilty for dredging up that memory.

"Na its ok, I dealt with that some time ago, doesn't bother me like it used to. Ha, I have a good one. Are you a virgin and if not, since when,." hHe said slyly.

"You serious! Damn. Well no actually. Since the Christmas break in 6th year. Well seeing as you got to ask me an embarrassing question, I get to ask you one. What was your most embarrassing moment?" Lily asked with a smirk to rival James'.

"Ah. Do I really have to answer that?" hHe said, but one look at Lily's grin gave him the answer. "Fine, but this doesn't leave the room, only Padfoot knows about this." He took a deep breath and begaun the story. "It was after curfew in the last week of 5th year. I'd been on a date with some girl and we had gotten a bit….carried away in the broom cupboard. Well anyway, to cut a long story short and save me from even more embarrassment, McGonagall opened the doors to find her on her knees and my pants around my ankles." James was bright red and looking anywhere but Lily as he finished. Lily, on the other hand was trying to contain her giggles. "ItsIt's not funny!" hHe said, indignant as Lily's resolve gave way to incessant giggles. "Fine. Your turn. What's your favourite book?" James asked, trying to stop blushing.

"Pride and Prejudice, most certainly,." Lily answered after she had stopped laughing. "Which three people in your life would you miss most if you had to leave everything?"

"Umm, Mum, for defs. Uhh Sirius and You,." hHe said turning serious.

"Me? You have got to be kidding. What about Remus? Or any of your other friends?" sShe said, a bit desperately. He couldn't mean it, could he?

"No, I meant what I saidy, I'd miss my mum, Sirius and you the most if I left,." hHe said.

"Umm, maybe we should finish this another time, school tomorrow and everything, you know…" sShe trailed off. This moment was sufficiently awkward,awkward; she didn't need to add anymore to it. She got up to go to her room, but as she reached it, James spoke.

"I still have another question. Do you still think that I am that arrogant, pig-headed jerk, as you so eloquently put it, that you have always thought I was?" hHe asked, eyes boring into Lily's.

"Uh, uh. I-I, umm….um,." sShe stuttered, not sure what to say. Yes, her opinion of him had changed, but she was not sure how. "I don't know,." sShe answered eventually, before again turning around to walk into her room. She closed the door behind her, and leaned nt back against it. She stayed like that for a while, but just as she went to get up, a knock sounded through the wood. She opened the door to ask what James wanted, but was swept up into a kiss so sweet and gentle, but so filled with passion that she couldn't break away. She relaxed into it, her mind running through the consequences of kissing the man that she has so ardently hated for the past six years. They broke away after a few minutes and Lily leanedt her head against his strong, muscular chest.

"How about now?" hHe asked.

"I'm more confused than ever,." sShe sighed before saying goodnight and closing the door. She would have to talk to Shahn;, she couldn't sort _ i this_ /i out on her own.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Squealing and the return of Mr Evil.

"Shahn. Shahn. SHAHN." Lily hissed into her sleeping friend's ear.

"Waddayawan?" Shahn grumbled into her pillow.

"I need to talk to you. Urgently. And alone." Lily said quietly, so as not to wake her other friends up. It was 6am on Saturday morning, two days after James had kissed her. Lily hadn't found an opportunity to talk to Shahn about it yet and had been avoiding James fervently.

"Stupidfuckingmorningpeople." Shahn slurred as she was dragged out of bed and down the stairs into the cold common room.

"Well am I going to have to drag you all the way to my common room or are you able to walk like a normal, live person?" Lily asked. She had let go of Shahn's arm and her friend had dropped to the ground and curled up in a ball.

"Fineeeee. But you totally owe me for yawn this. AND we have to get breakky on the way." Shahn replied sleepily.

"We are both wearing our pyjamas Shahn." Lily said.

"So? Its not li- yawn -ke there will be many people there. It _is_ Saturday." She said, finally getting up off the ground and making her way to the portrait hole. During the short trip to the great hall to grab some breakfast, Shahn managed to fall down one staircase, knock a painting right off the wall as she fell and be drenched with water bombs by Peeves. To top it all off, just as she was about to pitch over the side of the staircase when it moved suddenly, she was caught by Remus as he was coming down the same staircase and blushed a colour to rival Lily's hair. Once the girls had made it back to the Head's dorm, they flopped down on Lily bed.

"Seriously, they are only legs! Have the boys of Hogwarts never seen a girl in shorts before?" Shahn exclaimed, sighing as she bit into her toast.

"The amount of wolf-whistles that we got you would definitely think so." Lily said, shaking her head.

"Ugh, so what did you wake me up at the crack of dawn on a _Saturday_ to talk to me about?" asked Shahn while rolling over onto her stomach.

"Uhhhh, well you see…" Lily trailed off as she tried to find the right way to put the events of Thursday night.

"Wow this must be good, Lily Evans at a loss for words!" Shahn laughed.

"Oh shut-up," Lily pushed Shahn lightly on the shoulder, and took a deep breath. "Well you see, on Thursday night, after I made my dramatic exit from the common room, I came back to the heads dorm, only to find James waiting for me. He made this big speech about how he has changed and I haven't noticed blah blah blah and that I don't trust him enough. And then, wait for it, he wants to play a game. So we played truth or dare. Well it was truth, coz of his whole "you dont trust me thing". It was kind of fun actually. So anyway, we hit a snag when I asked him who he would miss the most and he said his mum, Sirius and me. I was rather shocked and so called an end to the game, but he wanted one more question, right. And he asked if I my opinion of him has changed at all. I mean, what a question." She gushed.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand? Has your opinion of him changed at all?" Shahn asked, her interest piqued.

"Well, I don't know. I think it has, but I'm not sure how. And that's not all. I went into my room and shut the door, but after a few seconds, he knocks. So I opened then door…" Lily trailed off, blushing, hoping that Shahn would guess the rest and she wouldn't have to say it out loud.

"He kissed you." Shahn said.

"Yeah."

"Was it good?"

"Shahn!" Lily squealed, pegging a pillow at her friend.

"Well, he is known around the school to be a famously good kisser. I was just wondering." Shahn said with a smirk.

"Wellllllllll I suppose it was pretty good." Lily's cheeks were bright pink.

"Okay, so that's what I woke up for? Well I have to admit, it was better than I expected. Your usual reason is that you're worried you wont have all your study done by the exam which I would then proceed to point out is still three months away and you always have it done so its never going to be an issue but then you would complain that that's not true and I would come in here and fall asleep on your bed and you would go and stress in the library." Shahn said in one breath.

"Oh shut-up," Lily replied, "Its like 8 o'clock, can we go wake up the others now?"

"Mmmm I spose, though they aren't going to be very happy with you."

"When are they ever?" Lily laughed as they walked out of her bedroom. As they were walking past James' room, they heard a massive THUMP.

"What the fuck was that?" Shahn swore.

"Oh, that was just Potter falling off his bed. Wait for it…" Lily trailed off, listening.

CRACK "MOTHERFUCKER!" yelled a deep voice from within the room.

"There we are." Lily said conclusively and started towards the portrait hole.

"Are you going to tell me what that was?" Shahn asked, hurrying after her.

"Potter whacking his head on the doorway to the bathroom." Lily said matter-of-a-factly.

"Oh my god, is he okay? That was a really loud crack!" Shahn asked worriedly.

"He's fine, it happens every morning without fail." Lily said with a smile. "It's a surprise he's as smart as he is really, losing that many brain cells every morning."

"Yeah…" Shahn agreed, as they walked towards Gryffindor tower to wake up the rest of their friends.

"HIDE ME!!!!" Lily squeaked as she ducked behind jess. The three girls were on their way to the lake to do a bit of study when Lily threw herself behind Jess and pushed her two friends behind the closest tapestry.

"Who are we hiding you from this time Lils? Potter or Johnson?" Jess asked.

"Potter."

"I don't know why you insist on avoiding him! Its not like he's done anything terrible to you! And plus, we are missing lunch…" Jess exclaimed.

"Keep your voice down!" Lily hissed. "And just by being within 10km of me, he is doing something terrible." Neither Shahn or Lily had told Jess about the events of what Lily has consequently dubbed _The Night_. Lily poked her head out from the tapestry to check if James had passed by only to find herself nose to nose with his grinning face.

"AHHHHH!" She screamed, stumbling backwards into Jess and Shahn.

"Hello ladies, what are you three doing clustered behind a tapestry on such a fine day?" James enquired, still grinning. "Unless there is something that you three would like to tell me…?"

"Pshh, in your dreams James. And as if we would tell you anyway." Shahn smirked.

"Lils baby, you really need to calm down. Less stress more fun. What are you looking for anyway?" James asked having followed lily's gaze out into the hall.

"Ah! Close the tapestry!" Lily replied yanking the tapestry out of James' hands so that it covered their hiding place.

"Well this is rather cosy isn't it." James smirked. "So what was it anyway?"

"Matt." Shahn sighed.

"Ohhh. Well then I totally understand." James said, now serious.

"JAMES! That was not necessary!" Lily half squealed and hissed.

"I just wanted to see what you would do." James sniggered. He had run one hand lightly up the back of Lily's leg and placed the other on her waist, attempting to scare her. Suddenly the tapestry was ripped back from the wall.

"Lily? _Potter!?_" Matt asked in disbelief.

"OH! Matt! HI. This really isn't what it looks like. Is it Potter." Lily replied nervously, shooting a glare at James.

"Well it could be…" James said suggestively, sliding his arm around her waist.

"Get off you tard." Lily said a she pushed his arm off.

"Oh Lils, my heart is breaking! It has been ripped into shreds by your cruel words!" James cried melodramatically, making a heart shape with his hands before flinging them apart and clapping a hand to his chest as if mortally wounded.

"Whatever Potter, get a life." Lily replied, turning back to Matt and starting out into the corridor.

"Mine beautiful flower hast thorns! Thou hast stabbeth thy dagger into mine heart and twisted it! I shall henceforth snuff it, because you refuse to return my love of thou!" James cried again, before clutching his chest and falling to the floor in a heap. When he had been laying there for at least ten minutes and Lily hadn't returned, James blinked open one eye and scanned the now empty corridor before sitting up.

"Oh damn. I was sure that it would work." James said to the closest portrait with a grin and flopped back down onto the floor, where he spread out and consequently went to sleep.

Shahn and Jess had slipped out of the other side of the tapestry just as Matt had opened it.

"Hahaha Lily is going to be rather annoyed that we left her there by herself with Matt _and_ Potter." Jess sniggered.

"Hah yeah. We should probably go get some of our copious amounts of homework out of the way…" Shahn trailed off, her gaze drifting outside to where Sirius was chasing a pigeon and Remus and Peter were laughing.

"OR we could just go do something more interesting?" Jess said hopefully.

"Yeahhhh but I don't know what to do." Shahn replied, sitting down against the wall.

"Hey look, here comes Remus and Sirius." Jess said.

"Greetings fair maidens!" Sirius yelled from the other end of the corridor when he spotted them. "What are you two lovely ladies doing inside on such a fantasmal day?"

"Well we were helping Lily to hide from Matt and James, but then they both found her, practically at the same time, so we decided to abandon her to her fate." Jess replied matter-of-a-factly.

"Ha, sounds like fun! Do you know where dear Jamesie happens to be right now?" Sirius asked.

"Uh well we last saw him on the fourth floor corridor near the defence classroom." Shahn said.

"Cool. Well I suppose we should go and scrape his remains off the ground. Wouldn't want to leave such a mess in the middle of the corridor would we!" Remus joked.

"Haha, Lily might have been harsher than usual today, stuck in between Matt and James." Jess said.

"I don't know how Lily can be around Matt! She knows what he has done! And nearly got hit herself!" Shahn exclaimed.

"Yeah I know! He's just so…" Shahn shuddered.

"Evil?" Sirius provided.

"Yeah I suppose that works." Shahn said.

"Can we give him a codename?" Jess asked.

"Uhmm okay..? But why does he need a code name?" Remus asked.

"Just before, when Shahn said 'how can Lily stand to be around him', two of his little Ravenclaw friends walked past and gave us the dirtiest looks. So… his code name can be Mr Evil!" Jess said.

"That's only _slightly_ obvious who we are talking about." Remus replied sarcastically.

"Well you do better then!" Jess poked out her tongue.

"How about a more normal name, like Percy?" Remus suggested.

"Yeah alrighty then. Percy it is. Hehe that name is going to be cursed now. Anyone who has it will turn out evil! Muahaha!" Sirius cackled.

"Enough with the evil cackles mate, we need to find 'dear Jamesie'. See you ladies." Remus said, dragging Sirius away down the corridor.

Meanwhile, Lily and Matt had walked to the great hall in an awkward silence. Lily was getting rather annoyed and decided that she needed to break it as he didn't seem about to.

"So, why were you looking for me?" Lily enquired as they entered the hall.

"You've been avoiding me; I wanted to know if everything was alright." Matt said.

"Yeah well, I have my reasons." Lily replied frostily.

"Do these reasons have anything to do with what happened in Hogsmeade? Because Lils, I really didn't mean to and you have to know that I regret it with my whole heart." Matt said, stopping and looking into her eyes with sadness written all over his face.

"You mean what _almost_ happened in Hogsmeade. And would have happened if James hadn't been there to save me! I really don't think we should see each other anymore." Lily said, looking defiantly into his eyes.

"James? _James!?_ So its all about _James_ now is it?! Well I have news for you, your mine and if anyone breaks off our relationship, its going to be _me_." Matt said, starting to raise his voice a little and grabbing her wrist.

"How _dare_ you talk to me like that! You don't _own_ me! I am not some trophy that you can put up on a shelf! Let GO of me!" Lily said in a deceptively calm and soft voice as she tried to wrest her arm out of Matt's tight grip.

"Come Lily, you don't want to make a scene do you? Lets go outside, somewhere we wont be…interrupted." Matt said with the beginnings of a maniacal glint in his eyes.

"No! Get off me! It is OVER between us, don't you DARE try to force me into something against my will!" Lily half screamed before bringing her wrist up to her mouth and biting down hard on his hand which still had a tight hold on hers.

"Why you little," Matt snarled, before bringing up his other hand and backhanding her across her cheek. There was a collective gasp around the hall as everyone had stopped eating to watch the drama unfold.

"Matthew Johnson. My office, NOW." Dumbledore thundered into the shocked silence of the hall.

"Its not over my darling, not over yet!" Matt breathed in Lily's ear before stalking out of the hall after Dumbledore. As soon as the doors shut behind his, the hall broke out into chatter. Lily just stood there for a while, before sprinting out of the hall. _They cant see me cry. They cant see me weak._


	7. Chapter 7

_Chapter 7: Funny Little Feeling _

_Hello there everyone! Sorry about the wait, but at least its no where near as bad as last time. Enjoy and review my pretties! Cookies for everyone who does :o) _

_Review: Lily is hiding from James and Matt, but James finds her and her friends. Matt finds them hiding behind the tapestry, Lily leaves with Matt. James does some Shakespeare stuff, goes to sleep on the corridor floor. Big scene in the great hall in front of everyone with Matt and Lily. (ooooh) Matt slaps her :O and Lily runs away. _

_By the way, the capital letters campaign was created by Elven Dagger from please go and read her stuff, its really really good :D_

* * *

"Yo Jameus. Why the bug are you on the floor?" Sirius shouted from the other end of the corridor.

"Why the bug? Where on earth did that come from Pads?" Remus shot him a confused look.

"Merrrgheh," James moaned as they came closer to his chosen sleeping place.

"Up you jump Prongsie m'lad. Firstly, I should like to know why you are asleep on this particular patch of floor. Secondly, I should appreciate being told the reason for your sleeping. And thirdly I should welcome an explanation to your apparent molecularly depressed state," Sirius counted off on his fingers as he reached a still drowsy James.

"Moderately Siri, moderately," Remus corrected, slapping his forehead in dismay.

"Whatever you say Remy," Sirius waved his hand dismissively, "Okay, so up you jump James. I call a Marauder's meeting in the ROR. By the looks of you, you have been turned down yet again by the lovely Lily Evans after one of your more spectacular attempts at getting her to go out with you," Sirius concluded after examining James' state.

"Mmm, whatevs," James mumbled and slumped back onto the floor from where he had previously been resting on his elbows.

"Oh, this cant be good. He only says 'whatevs' if he's really annoyed or jealous or despondent. I have the feeling that is a mixture of all three this time," Sirius said shaking his head.

"Come on Padfoot, help us get him up and he can tell us what happened on the way," Remus suggested. They hoisted James to his feet and set off to the room of requirement.

* * *

By the time they reached the room, James had relayed all of the events that had occurred in the previous hour or so.

"Well that's a bummer, eh."

"Sirius, be more caring. He's obviously having a hard time right now," Remus said

"What are you, a girl? Anywho let me make the room," Sirius replied with a grin before pacing back and forth three times in front of the blank stretch of wall. Remus and Sirius pushed James inside. James finally stopped grumbling to himself to look around.

"Well this is surely a change from the room you normally choose for your 'pep talks'," he said.

"Take a seat you two," Sirius said pushing them into chairs, "Your workshop starts in one minute." With a grin he bounded up onto the elevated platform that dominated the front of the room. James and Remus were in seats in the very front row, this was alien territory for them, so while Sirius wasn't looking they jumped back a few rows. They were sitting in what seemed to be a lecture theatre, complete with tiered seating and a lectern on the stage which Sirius was now standing behind.

"Hem hem," Sirius cleared his throat and shuffled his papers which had appeared on the lectern.

"That sounded really evil teacherish. The kind of teacher who would cause you lasting bodily harm in detention," said James with a raised eyebrow.

"Why thank-you. I have been perfecting it. SO. To begin with I would like to welcome you both to your free seminar on 'Catching your Lily Flower. A how-to guide for beginners'," Sirius announced and Remus and James applauded politely.

"Now. Please put on the name tags that have been provided," Sirius said as he levitated two name tags over to where James and Remus were sitting. "Right, now we can get started." James and Remus look sideways at each other. The nametags that they had received were pink. With flowers on them. And frills.

"Sirius, did you make these yourself?" James asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, I did. I am rather proud of them. They took me half an hour you know. Appreciate it!" Sirius grinned.

"Is Pads gay?" James whispered to Remus.

"Im starting to consider the possibility," he replied.

"SO. I would like to begin with a small section on identifying just _why_ you like this bird. Then we shall progress to what methods you have previously tried to catch her, then where these went wrong and why. We shall also brainstorm new ways to catch her and by the end we shall have a plan of attack. Please find a partner and begin to identify why exactly you are in love with your flower." Sirius announced very business like.

"Wow Pads, who knew you were capable of being helpful!" James said with a grin.

"Shut-up you. Get on with it!" Sirius replied making shooing hand movements.

"Alrighty then. James, why exactly _do_ you love her?" Remus asked, turning to face James.

"She's beautiful, fiery, sweet, kind, caring, considerate, studious, rule-abiding, perfect. And the way her hair falls around her face, how its always done up in a ponytail, how it seems to spark when she's angry, like her eyes do. The way they glint when she is angry, how they always soften when she sees her friends in the mornings, how they sparkle when she's happy and seem to be alive when she's excited. How gr-"

"Okay James, that's enough. Next point." Sirius butted in.

"Siri, this _was_ your idea you realize. You were the one who asked James to tell us what he likes about Lily. You were completely aware that he will go on for days. He has only talked about her eyes and hair! You should let him for once." Remus argued.

"Meh, he can mumble about Lily' fantasticness later. Next topic!" Sirius said.

"Fantasticness isn't a word. Ok, so what methods have we tried in order to get her to like you." Remus asked, conceding

defeat.

"Uhhm, well, I have asked her out everyday, so I suppose persistence? Girls are supposed to like that…" James trailed off thoughtfully.

"Well apparently this one doesn't. So we have tried persistence, and we all know the success of your latest attempt: annoyance," Sirius said, laughing.

"Haha. Very funny. How about we move onto what I _can_ do. New tactics!" James yelled the last part excitedly.

"Calm down Prongs, it's going to take planning. I shall get my Handy Dandy Planner!" Sirius said excited too.

"Say what? Your _Handy Dandy Planner_? Did you say that with capitals?" James asked, exchanging a sideways glance with Remus.

"I sure did. I meant to tell you, I am launching a new campaign. Equal Rights For All Words. All the small words never get capitalised! I think that It's time to do something about it," With that, Sirius conjured up a banner and strung it up on the stage. It read 'Speak Out For Small Words! Give Them Capitals!'

"That's an…interesting campaign," Remus said uncertainly.

"ANYWAY," Sirius shouted, looking pointedly at Remus, "On with the production!"

"Okay. Lets do this," James said, with a determined set to his jaw.

"Yeah, no need to look so fierce though, you'll burn a hole through the page," Remus said with a grin. With that, they set to planning.

* * *

After an hour of serious planning and hard work, (which really meant five minutes of work and fifty five of eating and stuffing around.) James, Sirius and Remus exited the room of requirement. Without a word, they set off in three different directions to put their plan into action. Sirius went to the kitchens, Remus to Hogsmeade and James strode purposefully towards the Great Hall.

"Hey Lils, hows it going? No, that sucked. Hiya Lily, how are you? No… Hey Lily, how has your day been? No, thisspunds ridiculous. Guh." James mumbled to himself as he neared the hall. As he turned around the last corner he collided with someone coming from the other direction at a great speed.

"Owww!" They both moaned as they lay on the floor. James recovered first, opening his eyes to find a tousled head of read hair lying on the ground in front of him.

"Lily! Are you okay?! Did you sprain anything? Do you want to go to the hospital wing? Do you need ice? Heat pack? That muggle painkiller napadol or whatever it's called? A hug?" All of his questions came out in an almost unintelligible rush, making Lily finally lift her head and look at James. Her face was red and tearstained and her eyes were still puffy from crying.

"Lily are you alright? What happened?" James asked softly, realising that something other than their collision had caused her tears.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it. Why are you being so nice anyway? You and your stupid mates going to prank me again?" Lily accused aggressively.

"No! Lily, we haven't pranked you all year! I-I –I'm worried about you. Is this because of Matt?" James asked, taking a stab in the dark about what caused Lily's tears. This question only caused her to break down crying again.

"Lily don't cry, it's okay, everything will work out. It's ok…" James shushed taking her in his arms as she collapsed.

"No James! It won't be _okay_! You don't understand! Nothing is _okay_!" Lily sobbed, pushing James off her and staggering into the wall.

"Lily, please tell me what happened!" James urged, grabbing her before she slid to the floor.

"Just stop! Stop doing this! Stop pretending like you care! I don't want it, I can cope by myself! I'm not weak, I don't need your protection all the fucking time!" Lily yelled, ripping herself out of James' grasp and running back to the main staircase.

"_Pretending_ like I care? You think I'm _pretending_?!" James was yelling too now, as he followed her to the staircase. "You think I would follow you around for several _years_ because I was _pretending_?! Well newsflash, I'm not! I'm in fucking love you woman!" Lily froze on the staircase as his words hung in the air between them. The rest of the school had rushed out of the Great Hall at the sound of their yells and everyone stood with their mouths agape at James and Lily, waiting for her reaction.

"No, you're not. You don't lo-l-love me," Lily whispered, in the silence her words carried to the rest of the students.

"You wanna bet?" James asked, striding up the stairs as he spoke. A soon as he reached her, he grabbed her around the shoulders and captured her lips in a kiss. Lily was so shocked that she kissed back. It was everything that she wanted, he was everything that she wanted, but she was too stubborn to believe it, and once the initial shock had worn off and the cheering of the rest of the school reached her ears she pushed him off.

"You don't love me," She whispered again before running out into the castle grounds. James sat down hard on the marble staircase. How could she react like that? He had just professed his love for her, in front of the whole school no less! But she had thrown it away. After about five minutes, the crowd had dispersed, leaving James by himself, still sitting on the stairs.

"Jaaaaamieeeeeee-poo what are you dooooooooing? I thought you were going to find Lily dearest?" Sirius asked in a singsong voice as he appeared from a secret passage covered by the tapestry in the foyer. When James didn't move or reply, Sirius became serious.

"James? What happened mate?" He asked, sitting down beside him.

"Lily…" James said staring off into space, a frown creasing his forehead.

"Dude, I'm assuming something major happened that I missed. And I'm going to go with the idea that you should go talk to her yeah?" Sirius said, standing and offering his hand to James to help him up.

"Yeah…" James trailed off again as Sirius helped him to his feet.

"What'd you do when Johnson backhanded her? Gave his a beating I hope. He is wacked in the head mate, I'm telling you," Sirius said with a frown.

"WHAT!? When did that happen? I'm going to kill him," James threatened glaring down the corridor.

"Just now, I thought that you must have seen it, but apparently not. Maybe you should go find her Prongs, I heard she ran," Sirius said.

James didn't reply, but ran down the steps and out into the grounds.

* * *

Lily didn't know what to do. Everything was happening too fast. She needed to stop for a while. So she ran to the only place she knew she wouldn't be disturbed in. Her waterfall. The waterfall was about one hundred metres into the forbidden forest, the lake had a small tributary that ran down some rocks and into a small pool at the bottom. There was a little cave behind the water that Lily had found an entrance to in third year. She always came here to relax and slow down.

She crawled inside and lay against the cool rock. Her mind was still reeling, going over and over the events that had occurred.

So much had happened in such a short space of time, she didn't know where to start. Matt slapping her, James kissing her, running out of the hall, running out of the castle, running away from Matt, running away from James. Whatever way she looked at it, she was always running from something. Shahn always told her she needed to confront things, but she never could.

"Lily? Lily are you in there?" a voice called softly from outside the waterfall. Lily froze, how could he know where she was?

"Lily I know you're in there. I won't make you come out, but just listen to me okay? I'm sorry for kissing you before; I didn't know what had happened with Matt, and it was the only thing I could think of to try to convince you. Sirius told me what hapened. I should have been there…. I know you can take care of yourself, im not saying you can't," He hurriedly reassured, "But sometimes you need someone there and im always willing to be that person for you," James paused again and took a deep breath.

"I was telling the truth before though. I'm not pretending. I have never been pretending. All I'm asking is that you believe me, just this once. So, uh, I'll see you back at the castle," James said the last awkwardly and made his way out of the forest. Lily couldn't breathe properly, he _loved_ her? No, no no no. That can't be right. Although…Lily scrambled out of the cave and ran as fast as she could after James.

"James!" She yelled as soon as he was within hearing distance. He hadn't gone back to the castle, he was to be found sitting under the beech tree by the lake, his head in his hands. He didn't look up until Lily was standing right in front of him.

"Are you really there? I'm rather convinced that my mind is projecting mirages of my hopes," James said, rather forlornly although his eye still possessed a glimmer of hope.

"It's actually me," She replied with a small smile.

"Are you sure? You're not Sirius dressed up as Lily just to spite me? What's something that only Lily would know?" James questioned.

"Is it really that surprising that I would follow you? Oh alright fine. Uhmm…you stole my pink and green bra last year and you keep it under your bed. What? I was looking for washing," Lily said in reply to James' apparent shock.

"You found that? Oh…damn," He winced, blushing. Lily sat down beside him and after a moment's hesitation laid her head on his shoulder.

"I believe you. But I need some time. I need to sort some stuff out. Matt…" Lily trailed off, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. James put his arm around her and pulled her close.

"It will be alright, in the end. I promise. Let me help," He whispered, his mouth next to her ear. Unbidden tears ran down Lily's cheeks as she nodded her assent, a watery smile struggling onto her lips.

"Thank-you James," She whispered back. They sat together under the beech tree until sunset, not speaking, just taking comfort in the other's presence.

"Awww, they look so cute together!!" Jess squealed as she, Shahn and the rest of the Marauders watched from the windows.

"Give them some privacy guys," Remus said, pulling them all away from the windows. "Hey Shahn, do you uh, want to comegetsomefoodfromthekitchens?" He blurted out in a rush.

"Sure Remus," Shahn replied, smiling shyly. Remus offered his arm in a gentlemanly way before his face split into a grin and they left Jess, Sirius and Peter in the common room.

"So. This is fun," Sirius announced to the air, swinging his feet against the chair.

"Yeah. Sirius, fancy a walk?" Jess suggested with a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Sure thing, after you," He replied, offering his hand to help her up and gesturing for her to go first.

"See ya guys!" Pete called out to their retreating backs. "This sucks," He muttered. He jumped off his chair and went to find his other friends. His real friends. His Slytherin friends.


End file.
